Blackstone COO Given ‘Cold Shoulder’ by Obama Administration

Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tony James “has quietly reached out to the” Obama administration “to try and get a job” and that James was “given the cold shoulder”, according to a new report from FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Senior Correspondent Charlie Gasparino. Gasparino went on to report that current Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman isn’t leaving the firm “unless it’s in a wooden box.”

On Blackstone’s Tony James trying to get a job with the Obama administration:

“Tony James from what we understand has quietly reached out to the administration since the re-election in November to try and get a job in the administration. Some sort of senior post, presumably economics post, and he has been given the cold shoulder. He has essentially been told, not now or maybe not never.”

On what getting “the cold shoulder” now means for James:

“It’s kind of interesting, what does this mean for James. Well as you know, he is largely considered the heir apparent to Steve Schwarzman the CEO of The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) the big private equity firm. However, a lot of people now say that is not the case. This guy Jonathan Gray who is the head of real estate is really the apparent. We should point out that Schwarzman, 65 – I was talking to somebody in there and they said he is not leaving unless it’s in a wooden box and that was a quote from a senior The Blackstone Group L.P. official to me today.”